This is the last post from our recent trip to Mashatu with friends and offers a gallery of images showing the variety of sightings other than predators which you are likely to see in Mashatu. The birds shown are just the winter residents. In summer, the migrants dramatically swell the numbers and variety.

“It is the marriage of the soul with nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination.”

– Henry David Thoreau

White fronted Bee-eater nesting in a colony in the bank of the Majale river.

These Bee-eaters were very busy digging out their nest burrows in the river bank with nosy, noisy neighbours causing a tussles very now and then.

Sunbathing and dust bathing, both of which remove mites from these Bee-eaters.

Being winter is was cold in the mornings. This Lilac-breasted Roller was perched and in hunting mode. It was all fluffed up against the chilly wind.

The Lilac-breasted Rollers are ubiquitous in Mashatu and positioned on the bushes like sparkling gems.

While you do no see in Mashatu the huge flocks of Namaqua Sandgrouse that you will see in Kalagadigadi or Etosha but you will find small groups of two to four birds all over. This female was searching for seeds in the sand and keeping her head down due to the chilly wind.

The female Namaqua Sandgrouse is cryptically coloured and very easy to miss when scanning the area.

Grey Hornbill with its distinctive call. You often hear it before you see it. I love the marmalade colours of Mopani leaves in winter.

Yellow-billed Hornbill. You will also find the Red-billed Hornbill in Mashatu in winter.

“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment.”

– Sir David Attenborough

This female Saddle-billed Stork was hunting for fish in the pools of water remaining in the Majale river. It was cool and the sun had just risen so the colours were unusually soft. With such contrasting colours this bird can be tricky to expose correctly.

The female Saddle-billed Stork is identifiable by its yellow eye-ring and no yellow wattle under its bill.

A Burchell’s Coucal hunting in the undergrowth on cold early winter’s morning.

Kudu bull walking along the edge of a croton grove down near the Majale river, accompanied by a pair of Yellow-billed Oxpeckers.

Sparring young Kudu males. The dominant bull was watching these two probably assessing where his next challenge was going to come from.

A pair of young Warthog which had climbed up out of their burrow and were slowly waking up in the warm, winter morning sun.

Having warmed up it was now time to spar and play.

Young dominance rituals

The Majale river at the bridge close to Mashatu Main Camp.

For some reason these Impala would not run across the road but jumped clear of the road showing their incredible jumping ability.

High fliers despite some really stoney ground to land on!!

Low and fast. This is typical of the bush. You are driving slowly early in the afternoon. You see a few Impala on the right hand side of the road – nothing unusual. The next minute something spooks these Impala and they take-off across the road in front of us. Many of them jumped clear across the road with much room to spare.

Anyone who has been to Mashatu will recognise this scene – iconic.

“Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.”

– William Wordsworth

Early morning sun was rim lighting these baboons as they sat warming up in the weak winter sun.

It was quiet. Most of the troop had come down from the Mashatu tree and were sitting on the ground just warming themselves.

Early morning family time before the hustle and bustle of the day.

A few Blue Wildebeest on a ridge creating a silhouette.

Young Giraffe with its mother.

Teaching her youngster which bushes to feed on.

One of the troop making his way down the great Mashatu tree (otherwise called the Baboon’s bedroom) first thing in the morning.

“The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.”

– Claude Monet

It was cold and windy. The animals do not like the wind as it messes up their smell and hearing senses. This was a large congregation of Impala which had clustered due to the wind. There must be safety in numbers.

A few playful Zebra.

A touch of striped sparring.

Striped horses in the bush.

A family of Klipspringers on the rock outcrop alongside the Majale river.

The Klipspringer is an unusual buck in many respects. It has a thick and dense, speckled “salt and pepper” patterned coat which provides effective camouflage in the rocky outcrops where is it usually found. Its thick, coarse hair is hollow, which aids them in regulating their temperature.

 

A pair of Klipspringers. The male has the horns. They stand on the tips of their hooves and are extremely agile on rock faces.

This is the last post from our trip to Mashatu in July. We had some wonderful sightings and got to meet really interesting people travelling around the reserve such as film maker, Kim Wolhuter and C4 photographic safari professionals Kyle de Nobrega and Ruth Nussbaum. This is one place I can never get enough of. I will be back again and again. The photographic opportunities are exceptional.

“Nothing is rich but the inexhaustible wealth of nature. She shows us only surfaces, but she is a million fathoms deep.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This is the fifth post from my recent trip with friends to Mashatu Game Reserve. One of the unique aspects about Mashatu is that you are likely to have good sightings of Cheetahs.  I have travelled throughout Africa good sightings of Cheetah are hard to find. There are two Cheetah families operating in the Mashatu Game Reserve. One group comprised a coalition of three males and the other an adult female with four, now not so little, cubs.

“Travel is rebellion in its purest form. We follow out heart. We free ourselves of labels. We lose control willingly. We trade a role for reality. We love the unfamiliar. We trust strangers. We own only what we can carry. We search for better questions, not answers. We truly graduate. We, sometimes, choose never to come back”

– Anonymous

We have been privileged to get a number of separate sightings of the cubs growing up. Five cubs were born but after about three months one was killed. Since then the Cheetah Mum has done an admirable job of raising four cubs in an area occupied by Lions and many Hyaenas.

You can see this is a young Cheetah as its teeth are still razor-sharp.

Cheetahs have an ability to lie absolutely flat on the ground.

This was closeup of one of the young Cheetahs gazing out with a soulful look. The black stripes down their faces from their eyes help reduce glare and improve vision in bright light conditions.

It is not often you get to see the Cheetah’s non-retractable claws. Perfect spikes for the high performance sprinting athlete. 

Two almost fully grown cubs with their mother. Within the group they are always looking around. They lie in exposed areas for protection but also enables them to see potential prey far off.

Long, lean and lithe. Cheetahs generally live in dry areas and get most of their moisture from their prey. They can do without water for three to four days if need be.

When Cheetah roll over to lie on their other side, they rollover on their backs with their paws up

The roll is often accompanied by a yawn. Cheetahs rest up in the shade during the day, but don’t usually sleep. They hunt in the cooler times of daylight.

Cheetahs hunt during the day for two main reasons. Firstly, they have less competition from Lions and Hyaenas and secondly, you need to see where you are going when you are travelling at 110 kilometres per hour through the bush. They can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in just three seconds.

At close to full speed a Cheetah is taking three strides every second – covering six to eight metres per stride.

Cheetahs do not have  bulk and claws to bring down prey but rather use speed and tripping to bring it down, then wrestle it to the ground and throttle it with a choke hold.

Females are solitary, whereas males tend to live in small coalitions of two to three individuals, usually brothers. This Cheetah mum decided to move on. She got up and first looked around. Before they do anything they quickly look around make sure of no unexpected surprises.

“Our relationship with nature is more one of being than having.  We are nature: we do not have nature. ”

–  Steven Harper

This Cheetah female is in superb condition, despite having to look after and feed four near adult cubs.

I am not sure how old the cubs are now but they must be about 15 months old. Cubs typically stay with their mothers for one and a half to two years.

The entire family lying in the semi-shade of a thorn tree. Their closeness is apparent but life will soon change for all of them.

“The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.”

– Dmitry Merezhkovsky

Cheetah’s have the ability to lie very flat on the ground. Their profile looks aerodynamic even when they are lying down.

The second group of Cheetahs we were fortunate enough to see was a coalition of three males. The three males were lying on top of McKenzie’s Hill looking down on the plains below. The Cheetah’s spotted coat blends in well with their surrounds providing effective camouflage.

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”  

–  Rachel Carson

It was late afternoon and these males had clearly eaten earlier that day. They started to stir and get mobile.

Cheetah’s, young and old, have a very distinctive way of rolling over, yawning and stretching. Some of their mannerisms are very familiar.

Cheetahs do not roar like Lions, however they do have a range of other meaningful vocalisations such as purring, growling and a variety of contact calls which resemble bird-like chirping sounds.

This male Cheetah was smelling the ground around some of the bushes which are clearly used as scent sign posts.

All three males scent marked the bushes.

Just look at how full this male Cheetah’s belly is, it must have feasted well earlier that day. Cheetah’s are fast in all respects. They chase fast, kill fast and eat fast. Often Jackals start yelping as soon as they see a kill, alerting other predators to the action. So Cheetahs need to eat fast so they get most of the rewards of their efforts.

The males started to walk down the hill and in the process stopped to scent mark on available sign posts.

The only threats Cheetahs have are Lions, and Hyaenas and sometimes Leopards. Snakes are also a threat to younger Cheetahs.

These males certainly had fed well that day. They would not need to feed for another day or two. Speed is their best weapon and they would battle, constrained by those full bellies. The back half of a Cheetah’s tail is elongated vertically and is used as a rudder when travelling at high speed.

A classic pose of a Cheetah smelling the scent signs around a  well-worn tree.

We have had excellent Cheetah sightings on almost every occasion we have been to Mashatu. We have yet to watch a chase and kill in Mashatu – so we keep going back!!!!.

“True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which is deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.”

– Milan Kundera

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This is the fourth post from our trip to Mashatu in late July. All of the images in this post were taken in mid-winter. Thankfully, Mashatu received late rains in April which made a world of difference to the flora and fauna. We visited many of the areas in Mashatu to see the wonderful diversity of scenes and landscapes. I have tried to show the diversity of landscapes in Mashatu in winter in this post. I have shown an image of Solomon’s Wall  which is on the western limb of Mashatu but have not shown any images of Mmagwa and Rhodes Baobab at sunset.  The reason being that we met and got talking to Kyle de Nobrega and Ruth Nussbaum from C4 Photo Safaris on top of Mmagwa. They were such interesting, friendly people that we never got to take any images on top of that sandstone ridge but just chatted and enjoyed the stunning scenery. They were great ambassadors for their photographic safari company.

“Discovering this idyllic place, we find ourselves filled with a yearning to linger here, where time stands still and beauty overwhelms.”

“The earth has its music for those who will listen.”

– George Santayana

“Look deep into nature, and then your will understand everything better.”

– Albert Einstein

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths your take,

but by the number of times your breath is taken away.”

“Nothing in nature lives for itself.

Rivers don’t drink their own water.

Trees don’t eat their own fruit.

Sun doesn’t give heat for itself.

Flowers don’t give fragrance for themselves.”

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”

– Henry David Thoreau

“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” 

—John Muir

“Each season has its own wonder, its own special place, and purpose in the pattern of creation.” 

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless then turns you into a storyteller.”

– Ibn Buttata

“Nature always wears the colours of the spirit.”

 – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.”

“Live as if you were going to die tomorrow,

Learn as if you are going to live forever.”

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

 

“Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.”

 – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I appreciate new things in my life.”

  – Ronnie Nijmeh

 

“Nothing living should ever be treated with contempt. Whatever it is that lives, a man, a tree, or a bird, should be touched gently, because the time is short. Civilization is another word for respect for life.”

 – Elizabeth Goudge

“Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.”

 –Richard Feynman

“The best thing about animals is that they don’t talk much.”

– Thornton Wilder

“To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.”

 –Theodore Roosevelt

“The landscape belongs to the person who looks at it.” 

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as a man may read a book, and seeking for the mysterious something that called—called, waking or sleeping, at all times, for him to come.”

—Jack London, The Call of the Wild

“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

– Rachel Carson

 

“The rich fire of the orange sunset gloriously announces the coming night.”

– Susan S Florence.

“If spring came but once a century instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all the hearts to behold the miraculous change.”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike